Insomnia occurs when individuals who frequently suffer from chronic sleep disturbance try harder to sleep or develop an anxious response when they are unable to sleep. Mindfulness-based therapy for insomnia, or MBTI, combines mindfulness principles and practices with behavioral techniques to treat this common issue.

MBTI teaches clients with insomnia how to use meditation practices to cultivate mindful awareness and change how they may be thinking about their insomnia symptoms. Practicing mindfulness meditation helps clients see their thoughts and desires as dynamic mental events and helps avoid becoming fixated on achieving specific outcomes or goals. This process, called metacognitive shifting, is one of the keys to reducing the symptoms of chronic insomnia.

In this video, Dr. Jason C. Ong works with a group of young male clients who are all suffering from various sleep issues. In this demonstration, Dr. Ong teaches behavioral strategies within a mindfulness framework to help the group learn how to cope with periods of wakefulness at night.